The present invention relates to a process for the distillation of readily polymerizable vinyl aromatic compounds, and more especially, to a process for the distillation of styrene, substituted styrene, divinylbenzene, and mixtures thereof, wherein the amount of said materials polymerized during distillation is reduced over an extended period of time, wherein the material accumulating in the bottom or reboiler area of the distillation apparatus is essentially free from significant sulfur contamination, and wherein the rate of throughput for a given distillation apparatus may be increased over the rate at which such apparatus may be operated in accordance with conventional methods.
It is well known that vinyl aromatic compounds such as monomeric styrene, lower alkylated styrene, e.g., alpha-methyl styrene, and the like polymerize readily, and furthermore, that the rate of polymerization increases with increasing temperature. Inasmuch as vinyl aromatic compounds produced by common industrial methods contain impurities, these compounds must be subjected to separation and purification processes in order to be suitable for most types of further industrial use. Such separation and purification is generally accomplished by distillation.
In order to prevent polymerization during distillation of vinyl aromatic compounds, various types of known polymerization inhibitors have been employed in connection with prior art distillation processes. For example, common inhibitors useful for inhibiting the polymerization of vinyl aromatic compounds under distillation conditions include 4-tert-butyl-catechol (TBC) and hydroquinone. Additionally, sulfur has been widely employed as a polymerization inhibitor during the distillation of various vinyl aromatic compounds. However, while sulfur provides a reasonably effective inhibitor, its use in such distillation processes results in a highly significant disadvantage, namely, there is formed in the reboiler bottoms of the distillation column a valueless waste material highly contaminated with sulfur. This waste material furthermore represents the significant problem of pollution and/or waste removal.
Although many compounds are effective for inhibiting the polymerization of vinyl aromatic compounds under differing conditions, e.g., storage, other purification techniques, etc., for a number of reasons which are not entirely understood in view of the diverse and unpredictable results obtained, only extremely few of these compounds have proved to be of any real utility for inhibiting vinyl aromatic polymerization under distillation conditions. In a typical distillation process for vinyl aromatic compounds utilizing a polymerization inhibitor, the mixture of material to be distilled is generally contacted with the chemical polymerization inhibitor prior to being subjected to distillation conditions in the distillation apparatus. It remains as a significant problem today that the amount of polymer formed in the distillation apparatus and in the high purity product recovered therefrom is substantially higher than desired, and occasionally, that complete polymerization occurs inside of the distillation apparatus. For example, in the process of distilling crude styrene (a mixture containing, inter alia, styrene, ethylbenzene and tars) to obtain high purity styrene, even when inhibited with sulfur and TBC, a styrene product is obtained which contains significant quantities of polymer which are difficult to separate from the product and are detrimental to the use of such styrenes. Furthermore, the material removed from the bottom or reboiler area of the distillation apparatus is a highly polluting sulfur-containing waste material which must be disposed.
Accordingly, there exists a strong need for a polymerization inhibitor which will effectively prevent the polymerization of vinyl aromatic compounds during distillation thereof, without the attendant problem of generating copious quantities of noxious waste.